New Directions in Children’s and Adolescents’ Information Behavior Research

Citation

Lynn Allardyce Irvine (2015), "New Directions in Children’s and Adolescents’ Information Behavior Research", Library Review, Vol. 64 No. 4/5, pp. 398-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/LR-02-2015-0022

In our digital world of pervasive information and communication technologies, information scholars and professionals want to understand more about the information worlds, experiences and literacies of people, especially younger generations who are entering education at all levels. Rowlands et al. in an influential and wide-reaching 2008 study systematically reviewed literature on young people’s information behaviour over a 30-year period to provide a virtual longitudinal study alongside a deep log analysis of actual Web behaviour. Their results exploded many of the existing myths surrounding the information literacies of the younger (and older) generation, challenging claims such as Prensky’s (2001) claim for the fluency of digital natives. The authors also threw down the gauntlet to the information profession to do more to get evidence for and understand the information-seeking behaviour of their users and not to rely on speculation and assumption (Rowlands et al., 2008, pp. 294-296).

Dania Bilal and Jamshid Beheshti’s New Directions in Children’s and Adolescents’ Information Behavior Research (2014) is a collection of exactly this kind of evidence-based research with studies which try to understand the information communities and behaviour of young people in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. The collection includes studies that move beyond traditional research to investigate groups and behaviours under-represented in the literature and which use innovative research methods.

Ten studies are organised into three distinct sections. Section 1: Through the Ages, presents three studies spanning pre-schoolers, elementary school children to late adolescents:

1. a single case study on the use of touch devices by a toddler aged between two and four and a half year old using naturalistic observation and tracked online activity;

2. a three-month observational study with two classes of elementary school pupils using a visual model of the research process for a class project; and

3. a study of 19 15-17 year olds from deprived backgrounds in Montreal and how and why they use other people as sources of information for help with homework.

Section 2: Special Population, presents four very different studies on specific diverse populations and their information behaviours and needs:

1. a review of the literature on young girls’ affective responses to using technology in developing countries;

2. a large-scale mixed-method, multi-partnered, community-based research study into how ethnic minority teenagers in Washington State act as information mediaries within their everyday social communities;

3. a study of librarian’s perceptions information behaviour of children with special needs in rural Appalachia; and

4. an 18-month study of the social information grounds of Maori secondary school pupils.

The final section: Designing Systems, collects together three chapters looking at technology infrastructure and systems which support information use and retrieval:

1. a literature review on the relationship between broadband access and online information behaviour;

2. children’s navigation of icon-based public library catalogue interfaces; and finally;

3. discussion of a four-year research project or “living laboratory” in which school pupils created an online guide for their peers.

Although structured in this way, the sections are somewhat artificial in that common themes and synergies emerge across the chapters and there is value in reading them together. Audrey Laplante’s study of how ethnic minority teens in Montreal use other people as sources of information for help with homework though small is an intriguing glimpse into this social space and reveals the criteria which adolescents use when deciding on the best source of information for specific tasks. Laplante found that they were neither satisfying (Simon and Kadane, 1975) nor applying Zipf’s (1949) Principle of Least Effort but actually applying very rational and conscious choices [which corresponds with Huvila’s (2012) recent arguments along similar lines].

Laplante’s study fits neatly with Fisher et al.’s chapter on the InfoMe field-design methodology for researching ethnic minority youth acting as information sources. Fisher et al. discuss the value of working with young people as design partners which is also reflected in the work of Beheshti et al. in the final chapter.

This is a valuable collection of varied, innovative research underpinned by theory and made richer by reflection. As a whole, it adds to our understanding of the information cultures, behaviours, needs, frustrations and innovations of young people. It will be of interest to information scholars, librarians and teachers, and I would urge anyone thinking about embarking on evidence-based research in this area to read it.